March 10, 2026 — Episode 43 at the summit of Kīlauea

The onset of episode 43 fountaining of the ongoing Halemaʻumaʻu eruption at the summit of Kīlauea occurred at 9:17 a.m. HST on March 10, 2026, about an hour after the start of precursory eruptions at 8:20 a.m. HST. The start of episode 43 was marked by a sharp increase in tremor and deflationary tilt recorded at the Uēkahuna tiltmeter (UWD). At first, the north vent grew rapidly, exceeding 100 meters (330 feet) in height by 10:00 a.m. and both north and south vents exceeding 1000 feet (300 meters) by 10:50 a.m. HST.  North and south vent fountain heights peaked shortly after 11:00 a.m. HST, with maximum fountain heights during the episode estimated to be at least 1300 feet (400 meters) from both vents. After about 12:00 p.m. HST, the south vent fountain remained consistently about 10-30 percent higher than the north vent fountains for the majority of the eruption.  By 2:00 p.m. HST the south vent had dropped to 1000 feet (300 meters) high and the north vent about 700 feet (220 meters) high. By 5:00 p.m. fountain heights for the south and north vents had dropped to 700 feet (220 meters) and 600 feet (180 meters) respectively. Episode 43 lava fountaining from the north and south vents stopped at approximately 6:21 p.m. HST. USGS photo.